Rosa has arrived in London from Poland to look for her younger brother Mikhail. He is supposed to be staying with their English father, but when she visits the house she finds it's locked up and there's no sign of either of them. She urgently needs work and somewhere to live while she continues her search, but what can she do and where can she go? Stef is running away from her boyfriend Oliver and the claustrophobic life she's been living in his opulent flat. Frightened, friendless and far from her family, she needs somewhere to hide. Rick is living in a limbo, a shy young man hiding from the world to write and draw and dream. How will he find fulfilment? All three find refuge at 11 Belvue Gardens, the shabbiest house of a smart white-painted Georgian terrace in North London. Here, its owner Leonie herself once found sanctuary following a short career as a model in the sixties and a destructive marriage. Now, out of gratitude, she opens her house to others in need. However, as she helps Stef and Rosa and Rick to find their way, Leonie finds that once again the very foundations of her own life and happiness are under threat.